-Huge collection of farm shaped flannel pieces that is perfect for Farm time. Can be used with any farm story or for imaginative play. Click on title for more detail on this board.

Little Duckling Tries His Voice- Flannel
board story

Sounds of the Farm- Flannel board story

The Dog that Couldn't Bark- Flannel board
story

The Farmer in the Dell-Ready to Make
Fingerpuppets to accompany the song, applied on a magnetic board.

The Big Big Turnip- Flannel board story

Group Time/Circle

1. Mrs. Wishy Washy-
Using the big book favorite of Mrs. Wishy Washy, create animal
story props to accompany this story. Make a mud puddle from brown
bulletin board paper, a headband of each farm animal in story,
and a head kerchief with a rag for Mrs. Wishy Washy. To make
headbands, draw or color each farm animal picture and glue onto
sentence strip. Laminate all items. Share the story several times
with the students, then allow the children to recreate the story
by letting each animal "roll" into the mud puddle, Mrs.
Wishy Washy scrub them, etc;

2. Old MacDonald had a
Farm- After children are familiar with the song, try introducing
farm animals or crops. In front of the circle, bring out a
plastic animal or vegetable. Ask the children what this is, then
sing the song, substituting in the name of the animal/crop. Give
the animal/crop to a child. Continue until each child is holding
an animal/crop. Encourage each child to tell you the name and
then place back in the bin.

3. The Animals On the
Farm- Use beanie babies, plastic animals, or laminated pictures.
Give each child an animal (one at a time, not all at once). The
encourage the child to tell you what the animal is and make the
animal's sound. Then sing the song as follows:

The cow on the farm
goes moo moo moo,

moo, moo, moo, moo,
moo, moo,

The cow on the farm
goes moo, moo, moo,

All the whole day!

(Continue along,
substituting different animals).

Centers

Computers

Mother Goose's Farm 4 Learning by Mattel

Language/Music/Dramatic Play

Dramatic Play-

Puppets-Place Farm animal puppets, handmade
animal hats, and other props in the langage area; accompany
specific props/puppets with matching books. Ex. The pig that went
oink, you may choose to place a plastic pig snout that the child
can wear. You may also choose to place coordinating felt pieces
with certain farm animal stories that will tie in thematic
language.

Dress Up-Place flannel shirts, overalls, hoe,
straw hat, animal costumes, boots, etc; in the center for the
children to dress up with. You may choose to incorporate pictures
that show the children examples of the result of dressing like a
farmer, like a cow, etc;

Re-enactment-Map off an area, if you would
like, for a pretend class farm. This may be inside or outside,
depending on the need and availability. Recreate a garden area,
complete with garden tools, seed packets with markers, and seeds
to plant.

Music/Language-

1. Place farm
books with accompanying tapes for children to listen to a story
in the music center, and specific farm titles on the bookcase.

2. Make up a
farm tape with the coordinating sounds of each animal, and attach
a switch to the tape player, so that the child may press the
switch to hear the animal's sound, each time he/she flips the
page to a new animal.

3. Create
several assistive communication displays to accompany Thematic
Vocabulary and Farm Books or stories. Children who need this type
of communication, will enjoy being able to hear Thematic words
with sounds by the touch of a button. They will also enjoy
"reading" the story, by matching the book's page to the
aac picture and letting the aac talk for the child. This
encourages independence, language modelization, and speech to
print matching.

Exploration/Sensory

Exploration-

1. Place chocolate pudding "mud" in a
messy tray and let children use their fingers to write or draw
with. You may choose to hide plastic pigs in a mound of pudding.

2. Place tinted shaving cream: white with black
dots for cows, pink for pigs, etc; hide plastic farm animals or
farm related items for the children to find.

3. Let children plant vegetable seeds or grass
seed in milk cartons.

4. Let children use clean, stripped corn cobs to
roll in paint.

Sensory-

1. Create a cow to milk in the water table by
stringing a clothesline from one side of the table to the other.
Using latex gloves, fill the gloves with water, and prick each
"nipple" (finger) with a pin. This will create a hole
in which the "milk" can be released into the table.
Children will enjoy using their fine motor skills to squeeze the
utters and will enjoy the sensation of the squirting water. Let's
milk!!

3. For oral stimulation and mouth closure,
let the children re-enact the Three Little Pigs. Provide a tray
with pink cotton balls, wolf straws, and laminated paper houses
(brick, stick, and hay). Place the pink pig cotton balls onto
each house. Encourage the child to take the straw with a small
picture of the wolf on it, and blow the pigs out of their house.

Fine Motor

Blocks-

1. Encourage children to build the 3 Little
Pigs houses. Challenge them to create houses sturdy enough to
withstand the wolf's huff and puff. Then take turns letting each
child huff and puff and blow their block houses down, of course,
knocking them down is always an option!

2. Place a barn with animals into the block
center and encourage the children to create a place for each
animal in the barnyard, while naming the animals and making the
sounds and appropriate actions. Model how a horse might run, a
pig might roll around, a chicken might peck, a farmer might ride
on the tractor, etc;

Manipulatives-

1. Use farm shaped cutouts to lace, ex. cow,
pig, chicken, etc;

2. Let the children create cow necklaces by
slicing black licorice into sections. Provide licorice sections
and cheerios to string.

3. Make different farm animals from colored
pom poms, felt pieces and wiggly eyes; place into a container.
Provide matching animal cards for the children to match them to.
Encourage children to use tongs to transfer the pom pom animal
from the container onto the matching card/strip.

4. Provide farm related puzzles for the
children to use, make homemade puzzles if necessary by using a
colored picture onto posterboard. Always add small pegs or pencil
pieces glue onto the puzzle, for children with limited motor
control.

5. Provide farm animal rubber stamps for the
children to stamp with. You can draw the animal's homes onto the
page and encourage the children to stamp the animal in it's home,
if desired. Ex. pig pen/pig, fenced in pasture/cows, barn/horse,
chicken coop/chickens, fencepost/rooster, pond/ducks, etc;

Feathered Duck- Easel paint a duck shape
yellow and glue on yellow or white feathers. Ask the child the
name of the duck and any other desired information, and dictate
word for word onto the paper.

Farm Prints-Use farm shaped sponges to create
a farm scene, have the child try to tell you what each sponge is
and where it should go in the farm picture. Use real grass for
tactile stimulation and creativity, if desired.

-Large farm bulletin board with all the farm animals included. Click on picture to get more detail on this board.

Cooking Activities-

Pigs in a blanket- Need: hot dogs, crescent
rolls/bicuits. Let each child quarter or half a hot dog
(depending on chosen bread) with a plastic knife. Encourage child
to roll the hot dog into a roll or biscuit and place onto their
cooking sheet. Bake according to canned bread directions.

Cow Cookies- Need: Prepared cookie dough and
chocolate chips. Buy the prepared cookie dough, then let children
add required ingredients (eggs, milk, etc;) Then let each child
roll their dough into a ball, pound to flatten, and press in cow
spots. Cook according to package directions.

Chicken muffins- Use a muffin mix and prepare
according to directions; pour into round muffin tins. When cool,
allow each child to place raisin eyes on for the chicken, fruit
tape comb, and candy corn beak.

Little Red Hen's Bread- Find an easy to make
bread that you feel comfortable with. Recreate this story by
asking who will help me make this bread? Who will help me mix
these ingredients? Who will help me bake it? Etc;